Erik Gudbranson Autograph Card

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The Florida Panthers almost made the playoffs this year, and have shown they will be contenders for years to come with the firepower they already have up front (Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, and Brandon Pirri, with veteran presence Jaromir Jagr to lead the way) a solid defense anchored around Aaron Ekblad, with Dmitri Kulikov and Erik Gudbranson as a tremendous supporting cast, and goaltender Roberto Luongo still in Vezina nominee form.

And they have the 11th pick in this year's deep draft class, which might enable them to add to that core. Let that sink in. They have a decade or so of great hockey ahead of themselves, in addition to future drafts, without so much as needing to adjust their top-6 forwards, top-3 defensemen and #1 goalie - and if they do, they could potentially become young contenders like the Tampa Bay Lightning this year... as early as next season.

Gudbranson was the third-overall pick at the 2010 draft, behind Taylor Hall (first) and Tyler Seguin, and ahead of Ryan Johansen (4th), Jeff Skinner (7th), Cam Fowler (12th), Jaden Schwartz (14th), Vladimir Tarasenko (16th), Bjugstad (19th), Jarred Tinordi (22nd), Emerson Etem (29th), Justin Faulk (37th), Devante Smith-Pelly (42nd), Tyler Toffoli (47th), Teemu Pulkkinen (111th), Peter Mrazek (141st), Brendan Gallagher (147th), and Mark Stone (178th). It was also a very deep draft, and third seems like the perfect place for the 23-year-old giant (6'5'', 210 pounds).

He's coming into his own in the points-production department though Brian Campbell and Ekblad usually get the best chances to put points on the board, but his hard shot and accurate passes will eventually garner him some top-unit powerplay time. He's also sound in his own zone, capable of delivering punishing checks, and a smart, tireless worker who could eventually wear a letter on his chest.

Born and raised just outside of Ottawa, he speaks fluent French and has suited up for Team Canada twice, winning gold at the 2009 U-18 championships and silver at the 2010 World Juniors. I see him playing with the big boys in an Olympics, and eventually wearing a letter on his jersey if he plays on a World Championship team.

He can also grow a great mustache, as can be attested in this card from Panini's 2011-12 Contenders card (#222 in the set, part of the Calder Contenders sub-set, signed on-card in thin blue sharpie, numbered 585/800):

It shows him wearing the Panthers' red (home) uniform.

Greg Nemisz Autograph Card

The Calgary Flames went to the second round in these playoffs, so as an organization, they've improved a lot from previous years. They have built a sound playing structure and attitude under head coach Bob Hartley, centered around youthful enthusiasm and toughness.

The Flames have drafted well in the past couple of seasons and have developed and nurtured their talent, for the most part. They may have dropped the ball on Sven Baertschi, whom they traded away to the Vancouver Canucks at the trade deadline after stalling him in the AHL.

Another one of their formerly prized prospects is the player they selected in the first round (25th overall) in 2008, Greg Nemisz, ahead of Tyler Ennis (29th), Jacob Markstrom (31st), Derek Stepan (51st), Travis Hamonic (53rd), Marco Scandella (55th), Michael Hutchinson (77th), Adam Henrique (82nd), Braden Holtby (93rd), Dale Weise (111th), T.J. Brodie (114th), Gustav Nyquist (121st), Dustin Tokarski (122d), Greg Pateryn (128th), Mark Barberio (152nd), and Jared Spurgeon (156th).

But the 6'3'', 190-pound center had been a point-per-game player for the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL (on the same team as Henrique and Taylor Hall), and he certainly fit the mold the Flames were looking for: big and talented. He capped off his Juniors career with Memorial Cups in 2008-09 and 2009-10, as well as silver with Team Canada at the World Juniors in 2010.

Power forwards typically take a longer time to develop, so with that in mind, his lone assist in 15 games over two seasons with the offensively-challenged Flames isn't necessarily cause for concern. The fact that they opted to trade a former first-rounder for an enforcer (Kevin Westgarth) was puzzling, especially considering said enforcer now plays in Ireland.

Nemisz has already had serious injury troubles, including a hernia and shoulder injury, which may be cause for concern, but could also excuse his less-than-stellar stats (14 points in 21 games) on the Charlotte Checkers team last year.

But at 25 years old, if he is to become a power forward-type of player, now would be the time to start putting pucks in the net and bumping and grinding his way onto the Caroline Hurricanes and proving the Flames wrong for having given up on him.

Here is is sporting the Flames' red (home) jersey, from Panini's 2011-12 Contenders (card #203, the Calder Contenders sub-set, numbered ##470/800), signed on-card in thin blue sharpie with his number (48) tagged at the end:

Simon Després Autograph Card

Last week, I participated in my first two Ebay group box break... and won in both. The first one netted me this card, from Panini's 2011-12 Contenders (card #221, the Calder Contenders sub-set, numbered ##469/800):

The sub-set 'Calder' implies this also serves as Simon Després's rookie card. In Juniors, as a defenseman, he had a better than 0.5 point-per-game ratio, and won silver at the 2011 World Juniors and the Memorial Cup. He is considered the heir to Kristopher Letang for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who picked him 30th overall at the 2009 draft.

The way these breaks go is the seller usually puts for sale lots of all 30 NHL teams, and winning bidders receive the cards from the break that matches the team they picked. For this box break, I decided to not take any chances and went for my favourite team - the Montréal Canadiens, for $2.25 - as well as the other team geographically near mine filled with young talent - the Ottawa Senators, for $1.99 - and the Pens, for $3.55. Obviously, I chose Pittsburgh for the chance at a Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal or another big name, but am still very happy with this home-grown talent.